Odds and Sods

8-Mile is more than just an Eminem movie. Its eight lanes of crumbling concrete cut sharply across Metropolitan Detroit.

To the north lies Oakland County, the third richest in the United States. 83% of the population is white. In the wealthiest suburbs, that number climbs above 95%.

Growing up in the wealthiest city of Bloomfield Hills, there was one African-American who lived on my street, Detroit Pistons’ star Isiah Thomas.

To the south of 8-Mile, lies the City of Detroit, with an 83% African-American population. It is one of the poorest cities in the United States, with 26% of the population existing in poverty.

With a demographic map like a black and white cookie, Detroit is the most segregated metropolitan area of the United States. Segregation is not something learned in schoolbooks. In Detroit, it stares you hauntingly in the face.

The lone connection between these disparate communities is the sports.

Commercials in Metro-Detroit ask “Who’s Your Tiger?” The resounding response on both sides of the divide is Curtis Granderson.

Fans love a five-tool outfielder who hits, runs and covers the 30% of the Earth that isn’t covered by water. But the root of his appeal resides elsewhere.

Granderson represents the antithesis of the stereotypical black athlete.

He got two business degrees at University of Illinois-Chicago, placing his education before a promising baseball career. His parents were hard-working educators who brought him up the right way. He’s personable, easily approachable, and has a smile made for TV. Despite making millions of dollars a year, he buys his clothes at Wal-Mart. If he had a daughter, Tigers’ first base coach Andy Van Slyke would have her marry Granderson. In short, he is not Rasheed Wallace.

Would a white player receive such magnanimous praise for being intelligent, getting a college degree, spending money wisely and not being surly? If he was tatted up, had cornrows and made everything into “a racial issue” would he be your Tiger?

“Granderson’s capable of becoming that transcendent Detroit athlete,” said Free Press Columnist Drew Sharp. But, what exactly is he transcending?

Curtis Granderson does not cross Detroit’s rigid racism. He confirms it. He comes off as refreshing to Tigers’ fans. Refreshing, because he displays none of the characteristics popularly assigned to African Americans. He doesn’t dispel the prejudice. He disarms it.

I am not indicting Granderson - by all accounts an upstanding person. But, he can only cover the ground inside Comerica Park. The blatant poverty and abandoned buildings three blocks away are outside of his reach.

When a Bloomfield Hills police officer pursues a “DWB” and decides he needs “Black Up,” Curtis Granderson’s face will be nowhere to be found.